Hell's Heroes (1930)

User Rating:

7.2/10   

Director:

William Wyler

Writers:

Tom Reed (adaptation)
C. Gardner Sullivan (chief story supervisor)

Release Date:

5 January 1930 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Western

Plot:

When four men rob a bank, one is killed and the other three escape into the desert where they lose their horses in a storm...

Plot Keywords:

Godfather | Desert | Self Sacrifice | Dancehall Girl | Sandstorm

Cast

Charles Bickford	...	Robert 'Bob' Sangster
Raymond Hatton	...	Thomas 'Barbwire' / 'Tom' Gibbons
Fred Kohler	...	William 'Wild Bill' Kearney
Fritzi Ridgeway	...	Mrs. Frank Edwards, the mother
Joe De La Cruz	...	José (as Jo de la Cruz)
Walter James	...	Sheriff
Maria Alba	...	Carmelita
Buck Connors	...	Parson Jones (as 'Buck' Conners)

Runtime:

68 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Equipment)

Certification:

USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Bodie State Historic Park - Bodie Road, Bodie, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Movie Connections:

Version of Three Godfathers (1936)

Soundtrack:

Oh! Susanna

Very Impressive Version

Hell's Heroes (1930)

*** 1/2 (out of 4)

This early talkie from Universal is the first sound version of "Three Godfathers", which would eventually be remade in 1936 with Chester Morris and again in 1948 by John Ford with John Wayne in this lead. The story here is the same as three ruthless outlaws (Charles Bickford, Raymond Hatton, Fred Kohler) rob a bank and then head out into the desert before losing their horses during a major wind storm. Soon afterwards they stumble onto a baby and the men must decide to let it die or try to walk it back to the town they were just running from. I've ended up watching these sound versions in reverse order as I started off with the Ford one many years ago and then just recently saw the Morris version, which was the better of the two. This one here is clearly the leader of the trio because of how raw it is. This movie is pretty mean spirited from the start up until the end and I really love that Wyler didn't pull any punches. Being the pre-code era we get a few things not available in future versions and that includes one sequence where the men argue about who's going to "take" the mother first. We also get a fairly violent scene involving a suicide, which is shown in a long shot. A lot of people bash American westerns saying they aren't ugly enough but that's not true here. The dirt, grease and ugliness of the characters are all over them and their unshaven faces make them look exactly like what their characters would look like. The three leads turn in wonderful performances but to me it was Hatton who steals the show as the big goon who quickly turns into a softy after finding the baby. Bickford is equally impressive and the final vision of him is quiet haunting and will certainly stay with you for a long time. The film runs a fairly short 68-minutes but there's enough heart and soul in this thing for two movies. Another impressive thing is that this was an early talkie yet you really can't tell as everything is recorded very well and it actually sounded a lot better than the same studio's Dracula and FRANKENSTEIN, which would follow the next year.